James A. Garfield was shot in Washington, DC on July 2, 1881 by
Charles J. GuiteauCharles Julius Guiteau was an American lawyer who assassinated U.S. President James A. Garfield on July 2, 1881. He was executed by hanging.- Background :...
at 9:30 a.m., less than four months after taking office as the twentieth
President of the United StatesThe President of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States and is the highest political official in the United States by influence and recognition...
. Garfield died eleven weeks later on September 19, 1881, the second of four Presidents to be assassinated, following
Abraham LincolnAbraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union and ending slavery...
and preceding
William McKinleyWilliam McKinley Jr. was the 25th President of the United States, and the last veteran of the American Civil War to be elected to the office....
and
John F. KennedyJohn Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
. His
Vice PresidentThe Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people through the Electoral College to a four-year term...
, Chester Arthur, succeeded Garfield as President.
Stalking the President
After failing in several ventures—theology, a law practice, bill collecting, time in the Oneida Community—Charles Guiteau's interest turned to politics. He wrote a speech in support of
Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant was general-in-chief of the Union Army from 1864 to 1869 during the American Civil War and the 18th President of the United States from 1869 to 1877....
called "Grant vs. Hancock", which he subsequently revised to "Garfield vs. Hancock" after Garfield won the Republican nomination in the 1880 presidential campaign. Guiteau never even delivered the speech in a public setting, instead printing up several hundred copies, but he believed that this speech along with his other efforts were largely responsible for Garfield's narrow victory over
Winfield S. HancockWinfield Scott Hancock was a career U.S. Army officer and the Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 1880. He served with distinction in the Army for four decades, including service in the Mexican-American War and as a Union general in the American Civil War...
in the
election of 1880The United States presidential election of 1880 was largely seen as a referendum on the Republicans' relaxation of Reconstruction efforts in the southern states...
. Guiteau believed he should be awarded a diplomatic post for his vital assistance, first asking for
ViennaVienna is the capital of the Republic of Austria and also one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by...
, then settling for
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. He loitered around Republican headquarters in New York City during the
1880 campaignThe United States presidential election of 1880 was largely seen as a referendum on the Republicans' relaxation of Reconstruction efforts in the southern states...
, expecting rewards for his effort, to no avail. Still believing he would be rewarded, Guiteau arrived in Washington on March 5, the day after Garfield's inauguration, and actually obtained entrance to the White House and saw the President on March 8, dropping off a copy of his speech. He proceeded to spend the next two months roaming around Washington, shuffling back and forth between the State Department and the White House, approaching various Cabinet members and other prominent Republicans and seeking support, to no avail. Guiteau was destitute and increasingly slovenly due to wearing the same clothes every day, the only clothes he owned, but he did not give up. On May 13, 1881, he was banned from the White House waiting room. On May 14, 1881, he was finally told personally never to return by
Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
James G. BlaineJames Gillespie Blaine was a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time United States Secretary of State, and champion of the Half-Breeds...
: "Never speak to me again of the Paris consulship as long as you live."
After this encounter, Guiteau decided that he had been commanded to kill the ungrateful President. Guiteau borrowed $15 and went out to purchase a
revolverA revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. As the user cocks the hammer, the cylinder revolves to align the next chamber and round with the hammer and barrel, which gives this type of firearm its name...
. He knew little about firearms, but did know that he would need a large caliber gun. He had to choose between a
.44 Webley British Bulldog revolverThe British Bulldog was a popular type of solid-frame pocket revolver produced initially by British gunmakers Webley & Scott in 1878 and subsequently copied by gunmakers in Continental Europe and the United States...
with a wooden handle and one with an ivory handle. He chose to buy the one with the ivory handle because he thought it would look good as a museum exhibit after the assassination. (The revolver was recovered and even displayed by the Smithsonian in the early 1900s but has since been lost) He spent the next few weeks in target practice—the kick from the revolver almost knocked him over the first time—and stalking the President. He wrote a letter to Garfield, saying that he should fire Blaine, or "you and the Republican party will come to grief." It was ignored, as was all the correspondence Guiteau sent to the White House.
Guiteau continued to prepare carefully, writing a letter in advance to General William Sherman asking for protection from the mob, and writing other letters justifying his action as necessary to heal dissension between factions of the
Republican PartyThe Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the Grand Old Party or the GOP, despite being the younger of the two major parties. In the U.S...
. He spent the whole month of June following Garfield around Washington. On one occasion, he trailed Garfield to the railway station as the President was seeing his wife off to a beach resort in
Long Branch, New JerseyLong Branch is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 31,340.Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township...
, but he decided to shoot him later, as
Mrs. GarfieldLucretia Rudolph-Garfield , wife of James A. Garfield, was First Lady of the United States in 1881.-Early Life:...
was in poor health and he didn't want to upset her.
Assassination
Garfield was scheduled to leave Washington on July 2 for his summer vacation. On that day, Guiteau lay in wait for the President at the (since demolished) Baltimore and Potomac Railroad station, on the southwest corner of present day Sixth Street Northwest and Constitution Avenue,
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
. While waiting, Guiteau got his shoes shined, paced, and asked a cab driver to take him to the jail later.
President Garfield had come to the Sixth Street Station on his way to his
alma materAlma mater is Latin for "nourishing mother". It was used in ancient Rome as a title for various mother goddesses, and in Medieval Christianity for the Virgin Mary. In modern times it is ordinarily used to refer to the university or college a person attended...
,
Williams CollegeWilliams College is a private liberal arts college located in Williamstown, Massachusetts.Williams was established in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams as a men's college, located in the Berkshires in northwestern Massachusetts, at the foot of Mount Greylock. In 1834, the first...
, where he was scheduled to deliver a speech. Garfield was accompanied by two of his sons,
JamesJames Rudolph Garfield was an American politician, lawyer and son of President James Abram Garfield and First Lady Lucretia Garfield.-Early life:...
and
HarryHarry Augustus "Hal" Garfield was an American lawyer and academic. He was the son of U.S. President James A. Garfield and the brother and law partner of Secretary of the Interior James Rudolph Garfield...
, and
Secretary of StateThe United States Secretary of State is the head of the United States Department of State, concerned with foreign affairs. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet and the highest-ranking cabinet secretary both in line of succession and order of precedence. The current Secretary of...
James G. BlaineJames Gillespie Blaine was a U.S. Representative, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, U.S. Senator from Maine, two-time United States Secretary of State, and champion of the Half-Breeds...
.
Secretary of WarThe Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
Robert Todd LincolnRobert Todd Lincoln was an American lawyer and Secretary of War, and the first son of President Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln...
waited at the station to see the President off. Garfield had no bodyguard or security detail; with the exception of Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, U.S. presidents never used any guards.
As President Garfield entered the waiting room of the station Guiteau stepped forward and pulled the trigger from behind at point-blank range. "My God, what is that?" Garfield cried out, flinging up his arms. Guiteau fired again and Garfield collapsed. One bullet grazed Garfield's arm; the other lodged in his spine in the first
lumbar vertebraThe lumbar vertebrae are the largest segments of the movable part of the vertebral column, and are characterized by the absence of the foramen transversarium within the transverse process, and by the absence of facets on the sides of the body...
but missing the
spinal cordThe spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system. It is around 45 cm long in men and around 43 cm long in women. The length of the spinal cord is much shorter than...
.
Guiteau put his pistol back in his pocket and turned to leave the station for the cab he still had waiting outside, but he was apprehended before he could leave by policeman Patrick Kearney, who was so excited at having arrested the man who shot the president that he neglected to take Guiteau's gun from him until after their arrival at the police station. The rapidly gathering crowd screamed "Lynch him!" but Kearney took Guiteau to the police station a few blocks away. As he surrendered to authorities, Guiteau uttered the exulting words, repeated everywhere: "'I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts! I did it and I want to be arrested!
ArthurChester Alan Arthur was an American politician who served as the 21st President of the United States. Arthur was a member of the Republican Party and worked as a lawyer before becoming the 20th Vice President under James Garfield. While Garfield was mortally wounded by Charles J...
is President now!'" This statement briefly led to unfounded suspicions that Arthur or his supporters had put Guiteau up to the crime. The Stalwarts were a Republican faction loyal to ex-President Grant; they strongly opposed Garfield's
Half-BreedThe "Half-Breeds" were a political faction of the United States Republican Party that existed in the late 19th century. The Half-Breeds were a moderate-wing group, and they were the opponents of the Stalwarts, the other main faction of the Republican Party. The main issue that separated the...
s. Like many Vice Presidents, Arthur was chosen for political advantage, to placate his faction, rather than for skills or loyalty to his running-mate. Guiteau, in his delusion, had convinced himself that he was striking a blow to unite the two factions of the Republican Party.
Garfield's suffering and death
Garfield, conscious but in shock, was carried to an upstairs floor of the train station. One bullet remained lodged in his body, but doctors could not find it. Young Jim Garfield and James Blaine both broke down and wept. Robert Todd Lincoln, deeply upset and thinking back to the death of his father, said "How many hours of sorrow I have passed in this town."
Garfield was carried back to the White House. Doctors told him that he would not survive the night, but the President did not die. He remained conscious and alert. The next morning his vital signs were good and doctors began to hope for recovery. A long vigil began, with Garfield's doctors issuing regular bulletins that the American public followed closely throughout the summer of 1881. His condition fluctuated. Fevers came and went. Garfield struggled to keep down solid food and spent most of the summer eating little, and that only liquids.
In an effort to relieve the sick man from the heat of a Washington summer, Navy engineers rigged up an early version of the modern air conditioner. Fans blew air over a large box of ice and into the President's sickroom; the device worked well enough to lower the temperature twenty degrees. Doctors continued to probe Garfield's wound with dirty, unsterilized fingers and instruments, attempting for no particular reason to find the location of the bullet.
Alexander Graham BellAlexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
devised a
metal detectorA metal detector is a device which uses electromagnetic induction to detect metal.The simplest form of a metal detector consists of an oscillator producing an alternating current that passes through a coil producing an alternating magnetic field...
specifically for the purpose of finding the bullet lodged inside Garfield, but the metal bed frame Garfield was lying on made the instrument malfunction. Because metal bed frames were relatively rare, the cause of the instrument's deviation was unknown at the time.
On July 29 Garfield met with his Cabinet for the only time during his illness; the members were under strict instruction from the doctors not to discuss anything upsetting. Garfield became increasingly ill over a period of several weeks due to infection, which caused his heart to weaken. He remained bedridden in the White House with fevers and extreme pains. Garfield's weight dropped from over two hundred pounds to 135 pounds as his inability to keep down and digest food took its toll. Blood poisoning and infection set in and for a brief period the President suffered from hallucinations.
On September 6, Garfield was taken to the
Jersey ShoreThe Jersey Shore is a term used in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States to refer to both the Atlantic coast of New Jersey and the adjacent resort and residential communities...
to escape the Washington heat, in the vain hope that the fresh air and quiet there might aid his recovery. Garfield was propped up in bed before a window with a view of the beach and ocean. New infections set in, as well as spasms of
anginaAngina pectoris, commonly known as angina, is severe chest pain due to ischemia of the heart muscle, generally due to obstruction or spasm of the coronary arteries . Coronary artery disease, the main cause of angina, is due to atherosclerosis of the cardiac arteries...
. He died of a massive
heart attackMyocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, is the interruption of blood supply to part of the heart, causing some heart cells to die...
or a ruptured splenic artery
aneurysmAn aneurysm or aneurism , is a localized, blood-filled dilation of a blood vessel caused by disease or weakening of the vessel wall....
, following blood poisoning and bronchial
pneumoniaPneumonia is an inflammatory illness of the lung. Frequently, it is described as lung parenchyma/alveolar inflammation and abnormal alveolar filling with fluid ....
, at 10:35 p.m. on Monday, September 19, 1881, in
Long Branch, New JerseyLong Branch is a city in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 31,340.Long Branch was formed on April 11, 1867, as the Long Branch Commission, from portions of Ocean Township...
. The wounded president died exactly two months before his 50th birthday. During the eighty days between his shooting and death, his only official act was to sign an
extraditionExtradition is the official process whereby one nation or state requests and obtains from another nation or state the surrender of a suspected or convicted criminal. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
paper.
Most historians and medical experts now believe that Garfield probably would have survived his wound had the doctors attending him been more capable. Several inserted their unsterilized fingers into the wound to probe for the bullet, and one doctor punctured Garfield's liver in doing so. This alone would not have brought about death as the liver is one of the few organs in the human body that can regenerate itself. However, this physician probably introduced
StreptococcusStreptococcus is a genus of spherical Gram-positive bacteria belonging to the phylum Firmicutes and the lactic acid bacteria group. Cellular division occurs along a single axis in these bacteria, and thus they grow in chains or pairs, hence the name — from Greek στρεπτος streptos, meaning...
bacteria into the President's body and that caused blood poisoning for which at that time there were no antibiotics.
Chester Arthur was at his home in New York City when word came the night of September 19 that Garfield had died. After first getting the news, Arthur said "I hope—my God, I do hope it is a mistake." But confirmation by telegram came soon after. Arthur took the oath of office, administered by a New York Supreme Court judge, then left for Long Branch to pay his respects before going on to Washington.
Garfield's body was taken to Washington, where it lay in state for two days in the Capitol Rotunda before being taken to Cleveland, where the funeral was held on Sept. 26.
Guiteau's trial and execution
Represented by his brother-in-law, George Scolville, Guiteau became something of a media darling during his trial for his bizarre behavior, including constantly badmouthing his defense team, formatting his testimony in epic poems which he recited at length, and soliciting legal advice from random spectators in the audience via passed notes. He claimed that he was not guilty because Garfield's murder was the will of God and he was only an instrument of God's will. He sang "
John Brown's Body"John Brown's Body" is a famous Union marching song of the American Civil War. The tune arose out of the folk hymn tradition of the American camp meeting movement of the 1800s. During the American Civil War the lyrics referenced Sergeant John Brown of the Second Battalion, Boston Light Infantry...
" to the court. He dictated an autobiography to the
New York HeraldThe New York Herald was a large distribution newspaper based in New York City that existed between May 6, 1835 and 1924.-History:The first issue of the paper was published by James Gordon Bennett, Sr. . During the American Civil War, it was a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party. Under...
, ending it with a personal ad for a nice Christian lady under thirty. He was blissfully oblivious to the American public's outrage and hatred of him, even after he was almost assassinated twice himself. At one point, he argued that Garfield was killed not by himself but by medical malpractice ("The doctors killed Garfield, I just shot him"). Throughout the trial and up until his execution, Guiteau was housed at
St. Elizabeths HospitalSt. Elizabeths [sic] Hospital, located in Washington, D.C., was the first large-scale, federally-run psychiatric hospital in the United States. It is known colloquially as "St. E's"....
in the southeastern quadrant of
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
Guiteau's trial was one of the first high profile cases in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
where the insanity defense was considered. Guiteau vehemently insisted that while he had been legally insane at the time of the shooting, he was not really medically insane, which was one of the major causes of the rift between him and his defense lawyers and probably also a reason the jury assumed Guiteau was merely trying to deny responsibility.
To the end, Guiteau was actively making plans to start a lecture tour after his perceived imminent release and to run for President himself in 1884, while at the same time continuing to delight in the media circus surrounding his trial. He was dismayed when the jury was unconvinced of his divine inspiration, convicting him of the murder. He was found guilty on January 25, 1882. He appealed, but his appeal was rejected, and he was
hangedHanging is the lethal suspension of a person by a ligature. It hurts a lot. The Oxford English Dictionary states that hanging in this sense is "specifically to put to death by suspension by the neck", although it formerly also referred to crucifixion and death by impalement in which the body would...
on June 30, 1882 in the
District of ColumbiaWashington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
. On the scaffold, Guiteau recited a poem he had written called "I am Going to the Lordy". He had requested an orchestra to play as he sang his poem, but this request was denied.
Aftermath
Garfield's assassination was instrumental to the passage of the
Pendleton Civil Service Reform ActThe Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883 United States federal law established the United States Civil Service Commission, which placed most federal government employees on the merit system and marked the end of the so-called spoils system. The act provided for some government jobs to be...
on January 16, 1883. Garfield himself had called for civil service reform in his inaugural address and supported it as President in the belief that it would make government more efficient. It was passed as something of a memorial to the fallen President. Arthur lost the Republican Party nomination in 1884 to Blaine, who went on to lose a
razor-close electionThe United States presidential election of 1884 featured excessive mudslinging and personal acrimony. On November 4, 1884, New York Governor Grover Cleveland narrowly defeated Republican former United States Senator James G. Blaine of Maine to become the first Democrat elected President of the...
to Democrat
Grover ClevelandStephen Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th President of the United States. Cleveland is the only President to serve two non-consecutive terms and therefore is the only individual to be counted twice in the numbering of the presidents...
.
The Sixth Street rail station was later demolished. The site is now occupied by the West Building of the
National Gallery of ArtThe National Gallery of Art is a national art museum, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. The museum was established in 1938 by the United States Congress, with funds for construction and a substantial art collection donated by Andrew W. Mellon plus major art works donated by Lessing J...
. No plaque or memorial marks the spot where Garfield was shot, but a few blocks away, a Garfield memorial statue stands on the southwest corner of the Capitol grounds.
As of 1896, the "Great Tom" bell at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England had only ever rung upon the deaths or funerals of members of the British royal family, the Bishop of London, or the London mayor; a sole exception was made when the bell was rung upon Garfield's death.
The question of Presidential disability was not addressed. Article II, section 1, clause 6 of the Constitution says that in case of the "Inability [of the President] to discharge the Powers and Duties of the said Office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President", but gives no further instruction on what constitutes inability or how the President's inability should be determined. Garfield had lain on his sickbed for 80 days without performing any of the duties of his office except for the signing of an extradition paper, but this did not prove to be a difficulty because in the 19th century the federal government effectively shut down for the summer regardless. During Garfield's ordeal, the Congress was not in session and there was little for a President to do. Blaine suggested the Cabinet declare Arthur acting President, but this option was rejected by all, including Arthur, who did not wish to be perceived as grasping for power. (If Garfield had lingered into December, when Congress was scheduled to convene, the Cabinet might have been forced to adopt Blaine's plan.)
Congress did not deal with the problem of what to do if a President was alive but incapacitated as Garfield was. Nor did the Congress take up the question 38 years later, when
Woodrow WilsonThomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States. A leading intellectual of the Progressive Era, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...
suffered a stroke that put him in a coma for days and left him partially paralyzed and blind in one eye for the last year and a half of his Presidency. It was not until the ratification of the
Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities...
in 1967 that United States law provided a procedure for what to do if the President were incapacitated.
Nor did the Congress take any measure to provide for Presidential protection. It was not until after the
murder of William McKinleyThe William McKinley assassination occurred on September 6, 1901, at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York. United States President William McKinley, attending the Pan-American Exposition, was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist....
twenty years after Garfield that the Congress charged the
United States Secret ServiceThe United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that falls under the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
, originally founded to prevent counterfeiting, with Presidential security.
The
Garfield Tea HouseThe Garfield Tea House, in Long Branch, New Jersey, is the only remaining structure directly related to President James A. Garfield's final trip to the Jersey Shore...
, built by the citizens of Long Branch, New Jersey with the rails that had been laid down specifically to give Garfield's train access to their town, still stands today near the location where Garfield died.
Cited works
- Peskin, Allan. Garfield. 1978, Kent State University Press. ISBN 0873382102
- Vowell, Sarah
Sarah Jane Vowell is an American author, journalist, humorist, and commentator. Often referred to as a "social observer," Vowell has written several books and is a regular contributor to the radio program This American Life on Public Radio International...
. Assassination VacationAssassination Vacation is a book by Sarah Vowell, published in 2005, in which she travels around the country researching the assassinations of U.S. Presidents Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley and James Garfield...
. Simon and Schuster, 2005. ISBN 0743260031
External links